The Strain: "Night Zero"Review

No, the pilot episode of The Strain does not feature a small worm poking out of a woman's eye, despite what the infamous billboards depict. It also doesn’t feature the word “vampire” as the characters try to make sense of what’s happening. But that's not to say it lacks for plenty of creepy moments. Premiering Sunday at 10pm on FX, the series is based on a trilogy of books by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. Already a heavy-hitting genre filmmaker, del Toro’s joined by veteran showrunner Carlton Cuse, best known for his work on Lost. (Quick FYI: I haven’t read the books and don’t plan to at least until this season’s over, but del Toro and Cuse have said that this first season will cover book one of the trilogy, for those keeping track.)

The show opens with an especially ominous chyron including the pilot episode’s title, “Night Zero.” And after… let’s call it “an incident” on the plane, it’s soon sitting on the runway in New York, completely intact but otherwise dead still and cold. It is some terrorist plot? An outbreak of some kind? An abnormally large Quiet Game stretched to its limits? Spoiler alert: it’s an outbreak of some kind. The show’s called The Strain, folks.

This opening episode, like almost any pilot, has a lot of heavy lifting to do in setting up the series’ premise, introducing our main characters and providing the promised bits of horror. It has varying degrees of success here, with the horror elements being far and away the strongest. Guillermo del Toro’s always had a remarkable knack for infusing shocks, scares and skin-crawling moments with an unbridled sense of fun throughout his career. The best moments in “Night Zero,” directed by del Toro, harken back to several of his films, from Cronos and Mimic to Blade II and even the quiet dread of The Devil’s Backbone.

I wouldn’t dream of spoiling any of these scenes for you other than to say that The Strain already excels at what most everyone’s coming for, as the show glides easily through suspense, skin-crawling creepiness and on into shock and gore. This is del Toro and company’s wheelhouse and it shows. It may be the comfort of knowing where they’re going with their story, but there’s a sense of confidence to the pacing here. The pilot has plenty of disturbing set pieces without feeling rushed.

Eph (Corey Stoll) examines a plane filled with less than healthy people in The Strain.

But that’s not to say it’s perfect, not by a long shot. The introductions to the main characters are awfully clunky and familiar—Corey Stoll plays Ephraim Goodweather, head of the CDC’s Canary Project, but he’s really just an aw-shucks normal guy. How much of normal, down-to-earth guy can he be, you ask? Why, he can’t even tie a tie before his marriage counseling session! Unfortunately, a grown man without this pretty basic (and handy) life skill comes off more as clueless than relatable. And the stuff with his family is an unwelcome distraction, since all we want is for him to get to his job.

David Bradley, of Harry Potter (Filch!) and Game of Thrones (Frey!) fame, plays Abraham Setrakian, whose introduction here is also a bit ham-handed. He establishes his badass old crank bona fides by foiling a would-be stickup at his pawn shop. It’s a pretty fun scene, and has me looking forward to much more Bradley badassery in the future, but it also has a been-there-done-that feel to it.

Despite these awkward character intros, both Stoll and especially Bradley are compelling actors—even if he weren’t so good, Bradley’s got an all-time great face—which keeps interest even when the dialog gets stilted. Another standout at this early stage is Richard Sammel (Inglorious Basterds) as a very creepy dude/thing with an agenda. Sammel spends most of his time almost perfectly still but never feels like anything less than a lethal threat.

So while the characterizations and dialog are currently weak spots, there’s plenty of time for improvement and with this creative team I’m not concerned about it. In this pilot episode The Strain has already claimed its ground with some inspired moments of horror and a general sense of fun—the fate of the world may be at stake, but this is no gloom parade. With del Toro, Hogan and Cuse at the helm, I’m eager to see else they’ve got in store for us.

The Verdict

The Strain has plenty of room for improvement but already excels at delivering scares.

The Strain premieres Sunday, July 13th at 10pm on FX.

Good

An uneven pilot is highlighted by Guillermo del Toro's knack for combining his sense of fun along with the horror.